Ballinamallard racer Josh Elliott was acentuating the positives amid the disappointment of crashing out two laps from home while contesting the lead against championship rival Alastair Seeley.

Seeley went on to win the race and close the championship gap to 22 points thereby leaving a rueful Elliott to reflect on a topsy turvy weekend.

“I’m gutted for making a stupid mistake at the end of the race. I didn’t need to win with the points gap but I’m a racer and will take every opportunity. The rear of the bike kicked up on a bump and I had to let off the brakes forcing me wide. Alastair made a mistake in the last race and I made one here but I always said I’m the new guy on the block and I am prepared to make mistakes,” expalined Elliott.

He added: “Today I only lost points but gained massively in experience and I have to thank Alastair Seeley for that. He raced his race and I failed to race mine which personally I’m most disappointed about! Sorry to my crew at Morello Racing, everyone knows what we’re up against out there on track and they are giving me the best opportunity possible to compete against it! Thank you for all the messages of support and my to sponsors who continue to believe in me.” The race itself was a cracker and little did the expectant crowd know as the lights went out that they were about to witness as age and know-how battled youth and exuberance around the Kent countryside and for the first time this season, the older rider triumphed.

After riding an early tactical race that sucked the less experienced Elliott in, Seeley set about upsetting the Morello Racing man’s rhythm in the closing laps and, to his later disappointment, he responded with similar tactics that also allowed the third placed man to close in at almost two seconds per lap.

Two laps from the end the blue touch paper was lit and it was a straight fight to flag between the two protagonists, with Trayler keeping a watching brief, keen to pick up any dropped points by the bitter rivals ahead of him. Josh tried to take the Tyco BMW man and hold him to the line but as he braked for Clearways on the final lap, a bump in the track bounced his rear wheel off the track and only his immediate reactions avoided a collision with Seeley but unfortunately as the bike ran at pace in to the gravel Josh was thrown from his machine as it cartwheeled towards the air fence, thankfully without serious injury and still with a 22 point championship lead.

Earlier, Josh had shown plenty of quality and guts in the two days of qualifying. Indeed, the weekend began as Knockhill finished with the Ballinamallard racer at the sharp end of the time sheets as he finished free practice one with the second fastest time of the session and with plenty in hand for the first qualifying session later on the Friday afternoon.

The weather was dry and bright as the National STK1000 contenders took to the circuit to fight it out for the provisional grid places for Sunday’s race. It was little surprise to see Josh and Seeley trading fastest laps as the two traded metaphorical blows in the battle for provisional pole position, but it was the championship leader who prevailed to sit proudly at the top of the time sheets but mindful that he had to do it all again on Saturday, as unlike Knockhill, there were no biblical thunderstorms due to upset proceedings.

After some minor changes overnight, qualifying two got under way but for Josh it was to be one of the more difficult qualifying sessions of the season so far. After his first run of steady laps he pitted for his new tyre and sat watching the timing monitor to see if any of his rivals were challenging his provisional pole time. With around seven minutes to run, Josh rolled out for his final run only to immediately pit again, informing his crew that the clutch was slipping and was losing time because of it. There was little they could due except offer a little more ‘free play’ in the cable and then sent him out to manage it as best he could.

Unknown to Josh, his impressive time from Friday was still enough to hold pole position as the seconds ticked down on his out lap as his rivals laps went away from them. As the former European STK600 contender’s flying lap unfolded, it was clear that he wasn’t taking things lightly as the timing screens lit up with purple fastest sectors and green personal bests as Josh smashed his way to pole with a scintillating lap of 1m 27.894s, the first sub 1m 28s lap of qualifying and what was to become the fastest lap of the whole weekend.